Why Are You Afraid?

Text: Matthew 8:23-27
Date: The Fourth Sunday after The Epiphany1/29/06

  The question Jesus asks his disciples in the boat is not “what are you afraid of?” That was obvious—the storm on the sea, the waves, the winds. Rather he asks “why ”—“Why are you afraid?” And so we could engage in a little “pity party” as they say and spend our time listing all the things that cause us to fear—anything from threatening weather to the war on terror, from the loss of a job at Ford's Wixom plant to financial problems. We fear health problems and conflict in our relationships in our marriage or the family. Some fear for the future of our Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and of our own congregation. Then there is the fear of death whether it be for the one dealing with complicated medical issues or simply from the threat of accident, bird flu pandemic, “mad cow” or some other circumstance seemingly out of our control. When you lose control, that's when you are afraid. But our Lord is not asking when or what makes you afraid. He is asking his disciples “Why?” Why are you afraid?

  In asking the why question our Lord means to teach us something about faith, as the whole question is, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” And that makes us ask, “Faith? What's faith got to do with it?” As we shall see this text does not say that faith will remove the fear or the causes of our fear, but faith overcomes fear. Faith hangs on in the midst of fear because it is not fixated on the cause of fear or, as a former President of the United States said, “fear itself.” Faith overcomes fear because it constantly reaches out; cries out to the only One Who can save, namely, Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.

  Interestingly, this text seems to suggest that following Jesus is the cause of fear! Martin Luther observed, “When the Lord stepped into the ship with his disciples all was quiet; there was no storm. Instead the sun was shining and the sea was calm and friendly.” It was only after Jesus stepped into the boat and they shoved off from land that the trouble began. This is the “dirty little secret” that the television evangelists and purveyors of positive thinking don't tell you and don't even seem to know themselves, that the promise of Christian faith is not that if you “have enough faith” everything will go well. In fact, when it comes to your spiritual life, things seem to “go better” if you do not get into the boat with Jesus, if you ignore him and his Word and reject his call to follow and just coast along through life. Then the devil will be quite pleased and leave you alone. On the other hand, to follow Jesus, to get into the boat with him, means, as he says elsewhere, to deny yourself and take up your cross.

  The first lesson about faith in this text, then, is the cross or, as St. Paul said it, sharing in the sufferings of Christ (Phil. 3:10). As he wrote to the Corinthians, “For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” [2 Cor. 1:5 (ESV)]. And the Apostle Peter encourages Christians, saying, “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” [1 Peter 4:13 (ESV)].

  These churches around trying to gain numbers of members by taking down or covering up their crosses and painstakingly avoiding anything negative (like preaching about sin and grace, law and gospel!) have fallen overboard and are not teaching the Christian faith or gospel but some other faith or gospel, a faith or gospel that cannot save, that cannot face up to reality but only substitutes a “feel good,” phony faith. They even urge you to pray, but not like this text teaches, but rather in the way of, as it's called, “name it and claim it,” that prayer somehow has an almost magical power to bring prosperity, calm or peace. But how do the disciples in the boat pray? “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” This prayer doesn't dictate how or what the Lord should do. In fact, it doesn't really even think of anything but their obvious panic. This prayer simply wakes him up and pleads for mercy and leaves the details to the Lord. The first lesson of this Gospel is that if you want to be a Christian and want to have the gospel, you must anticipate rough weather or suffering—the cross, for it is inevitable.

  What is this faith Jesus speaks about, whether it be little or great? It is the opposite of what some think is our free will or self-reliance. In the dark days, amid threatening circumstances, when the hinges of our lives seem to be falling off, all our self-reliance and strength is, finally, useless, weak, and incompetent. What a contrast, however, is faith whether weak or strong. For faith seeks help where it is to be found, namely, with the Lord Jesus. Without that gift, that little, flickering light of faith, the disciples would have despaired of Jesus, let him continue sleeping in the back of the boat and just hung on hoping just to survive. But their cry, “Save us, Lord,” the cry of faith, was the only thing they had, calling to the only Lord they needed, Jesus. Self-reliance (and fear) sees only the present circumstances, maybe sees no way out and despairs. Faith, however, always sees beyond the present circumstances to the Lord over all calling to mind his power and might over all creation and his promise of salvation and love.

  And how do we know for certain that God desires to save us, to heal us, to raise us up, to love us? His name is Jesus Christ. You see him sleeping there in the boat. He sleeps because he is a real man like you or me, truly human, experiencing the weariness and threats of life in this fallen, dangerous world. We do not have a God that cannot sympathize with our weakness “but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” [Hebrews 4:15 (ESV)]. Whether it seems to you that God is sleeping or ignorant of your great need or not, nevertheless Christ is there—he's there in the boat, he's there in your sickness, weakness, doubt, poverty or fear. Our eyes may not see him, there may be no observable evidence of his presence or care, but faith sees and knows and acts as though we do see him and believes that he will help in time of need.

  For faith knows that our Savior, while being fully human, a man, is also fully divine, our Lord and our God. “He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” What sort of man? The God-Man, Jesus Christ, the mighty Savior of the world. That the wind and sea obey his voice proves his almighty, divine nature as God, God in our flesh! And though he is both true God and man, Scripture, nevertheless, speaks of him as one single Person. These two natures, divine and human, are united in the one person of Christ. As the Son of God the winds and waves were a little thing for him. The greatest and last enemy he came to destroy for us is sin, death and the devil. And this he did. Though death and the devil seemed to win the day on that dark Good Friday as he hung bloody, spent and lifeless on the cross, the darkness of the grave could not hold him, and by his mighty resurrection from the grave the devil and sin and even death were undone, defeated, the strife ended in life.

  Faith knows this way through suffering to glory and hangs on for dear life knowing that nothing “in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” [Romans 8:39 (ESV)]. For Christ, true God and true man, helps all who believe in him and call upon him in every time of need and danger.

___________________
Rev. Allen D. Lunneberg

Contacts:

deblocascio.stmark@sbcglobal.net

Pastor: Rev. Allen D. Lunneberg
7979 Commerce Rd.      (1/4 mile east of Union Lake Rd.)
West Bloomfield, MI 48324
Phone: 248.363.0741
Fax: 248.363.4755